Florida Becomes First Governmental Agency to Accept Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency has seen widespread acceptance from citizens and a handful governments in its adoption and utilization of the technology. A government official out of the city of Florida has announced that his office would start accepting cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for their taxes.

The agency will begin working with Bitpay to facilitate payments and the cryptocurrency that would be accepted would be Bitcoin (BTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

As we all know that the traditional payment process of my payment using your debit or credit card attracts a high maintenance fee which consumers are obliged to pay. However, According to Joel Greenberg, Seminole County Tax Collector, will start using blockchain technology so as to reduce costs and improve its efficiency. He further explained:

“We live in a world where technology has made access to services on demand, with same-day delivery and expectation of highly efficient customer service and we should expect the same from our government. The aim of my tenure in office is to make our customer experience faster, smarter, and more efficient, and to bring government services from the 18th century into the 21st century and one way is the addition of cryptocurrency to our payment options.”

Bitpay is the payment platform that would use to process tax payments. Bitpay is one of the largest global blockchain payment provider and currently have a very larger customer base. Some of the services that would accept cryptocurrency as payment would be drivers licences, property tax, birth certificate, concealed weapons, tag renewals etc.

Moreover, users will have improved security due to the fact that they will not have to provide their identity by using credit cards to pay for the taxes. With BitPay the process is simple, fast and could be used as an example for other counties in the country.

The relevant government agency would receive the exact amount in cryptocurrency for the payment which would be processed by Bitpay which would then be processed into the appropriate bank account in US dollars. This would now make it possible for users to pay in their favourite virtual currency avoiding the high risk of volatility.

What do you think about the level of adoption? Whats your opinion about the adoption of the blockchain to the tax system? Share your opinion with us in the comments section below.

Image source: pixabay

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Vice Industry Token Rewards All Stakeholders in the Adult Industry

Imagine a word where you get paid to view content. In fact, where everyone involved gets paid – from the producers, all the way to the consumers. This is VIT’s vision for the future. VIT was developed because most players in the vice industry online are not okay with the way things are done now.

At a time when adult content generates 30% of all traffic online, very little money is actually generated back to content owners and producers and not one penny goes to the viewer.

Vice token has completely replaced the current commercial model with something revolutionary, disruptive and elegant. A model where all parties involved from the producers to consumers get paid.

Disruption

This is the next stage in the evolution of online television and video with the revolution and disruption using blockchain and a cryptotcurrency called the Vice Industry Token.

The adult entertainment industry is leading the way and the future of our industry lies in recognizing that consumer attention is a valuable an scare resource in and effectively, and entirely new economy- the Attention Economy.

The Attention Economy

In the attention economy, content producers, curators and consumers all get paid for their participation. Content is produced, tagged by a blockchain enabled platform and curated by channel owners. Consumers view these contents for free in exchange for engaging with it in a specific ways. For example, commenting, up-voting or simply viewing a video for a set period of time.

The Vice Industry Token

These digital engagement, generate a proprietary cryptocurrency called the Vice Industry Token. Which is then used to compensate viewers, curators and producers for their participation. The attention pays producers for content consumption even in cases where their content is mashed up or other wise re-used. This leads them to invest in creating better quality content that appeals to consumers. Popular content creates higher engagement levels, which generates more revenue and the cycle continues.

Reward for Curators

Curators are financially incentivized to offer high quality and more popular contents and to attract the viewing public. The combinations of high volume of traffic and poplular content, lead to greater consumer engagement which means which means greater revenue.

Reward for Consumers

Finally, consumers get paid for contents their engagement in content the are genuinely interested in watching. This engagement model creates a more authentic brand-consumer relationship than the current advertising model and eliminates advertising industry problems like click forward.

The Vice Industry Token and its commercial model, is just the beginning of the future of all online video and television. The team is envisioning a revolutionary future with billions of users.

Related

Lucky Uwakwe shares his views on African governments and Blockchain adoption with Cryptotvplus.

It is no news that a lot of enthusiasts in the blockchain space only show commitment to the projects they handle or the ones which give them maximum returns. It is not everyday you get to meet an enthusiast in the space who is quite passionate about getting the government on board this moving train.

Interestingly, in a recent article published by CryptoTVPlus, some African governments are already piqued by blockchain.

However, Lucky Uwakwe is positive that all African governments will finally come to terms with the versatility of the blockchain in the nearest future.

Here is an overview of the conversation we had with Lucky Uwakwe:

In your own words, what would you say blockchain is?

Blockchain is a persistent record of ownership transfer, that is publicly available for examination by all aspects of people. It is permission less to use and no trust is required toward any third party when using it. It is immutable.

In a few words tell us about your journey into the fast emerging Technology. When, how and through what means did you hear about Blockchain and Cryptocurrency?

I learnt about bitcoin and blockchain from research in the CYPHERPUNK community, during an online research in 2008, but I never fully grasp the importance until about 2010/2011 with bitcoin and the Mt gox exchange (magic the gathering of exchange) after that I use to read Vitalik Buterin(ethereum founder) Articles on bitcoin blockchain back then, when he was a writer on bitcoin

In what areas of blockchain are you most passionate?

Education and Consulting with Service of smooth user friendly digital exchange.

What is your product all about? What challenges or problems have you identified? How will your innovation use the blockchain to solve these problems?

CURRENTLY as I speak, we see that some countries in the world especially in Africa buy digital asset at a premium, and pay higher fee which is higher than some region. Another problem Fiat based crypto exchange is different and crypto- crypto exchange is also different.

We have built a solution to cover all that, making it easier for people to trade and convert over 200 crypto to crypto , or crypto to fiat, all in one place. also transfer in the exchange is free, from OTC fiat section to the crypto exchange of our exchange, we even do free deposit fee, and our withdrawal fee is lesser than what is currently available in many exchange in the world.

We have exactly combine liquidity of Huobi which is one of the top three crypto to crypto exchange in the world, but we have added easy fiat for African and have open African customers to the rest of the world. With our partnership with Huobi cloud, security is paramount. we are called SaBi, we provide users across the globe to either use our Crypto to crypto or fiat to crypto, we have open a continent to the rest of the world, so customers in other continents can trade with other continents including Africa. All in one place.

What milestones do you hope to accomplish in the coming years in the Blockchain Industry?

To see that government Across Africa welcome blockchain technology and digital currency, and to ensure we have a strong community of women and house wives who are professional traders on SaBi making a living to support there family and the continent at large. So that they can become independent.

Our goal is to see that we return 30-60% profit made from SaBi exchange back to our active users and the community to support poor African community, lacking basics facilities like Schools,clean water, hospital and food. This we will do through SaBi exchange with our partnership from Huobi cloud

How is your Project contributing to creating blockchain awareness and in turn Mass Adoption?

My company has been at the fore front of positive awareness with the government and community across Africa and beyond, a simple google search of my name Lucky Uwakwe will show quite a lot, but as a company we continue to create a cooperate awareness with institution making our authority responsible for enacting laws that will shape the future of Blockchain in our continent.

Tell us about your project team? How did you come about the team? How do you inspire them to give their best?

I actually don’t inspire my team, my team inspire me. They are the best brain out there, why tell the best what to do? Rather they inspire me and we work towards a common goal. Currently my team have been one of the best to work with in one project, my project team members are from or based in China, Canada, Singerpore, Japan , Nigeria and Taiwan.

Most of them have over 3-10years+ background in Tech, Finance and Wall Street and Blockchain space. My Nigerian based team all have experience in the Blockchain space, I am a certified cryptocurrency specialist (C.C.S) and still current MSc in Digital currency and Blockchain Technology at the University of Nicosia Cyprus.

My Co-founder Mr. Peter Huang is a Chinese with experience Tech and Engineering company, from Beijing China, my Designer Kayode Iyanu owns SirfiTech in Nigeria capital city and the entire team of Huobicloud in Asia are working with us, from Mr. David Chen a Canadian, Mr. Jack Lee in Shenzhen china , Mrs. Margaret Tang, all from Huobi cloud, we have a rich diverse team across the world and many more working behind the scene working to see SaBi meet every standard before we Lunch by February 2019.

Related

JPM Coin to be the First US Backed Cryptocurrency by JPMorgan Chase

JPM Coin becomes the first cryptocurrency to be backed by the United States government.

JPM Coin – US Government First Backed Cryptocurrency

JPMorgan Chase, one of the biggest banking institutions in the United States is developing the first cryptocurrency to be ever backed by the US government. A digital token which is called, “JPM Coin” was created by software engineers in the New York-based bank, which, as reported by CNBC, JPMorgan will use to increase settlement efficiency within its operations.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Called Bitcoin A Fraud

JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon once called Bitcoin a fraud in September 2018 saying he has no interest in it, a statement he later personally regretted in an interview on Fox Business. According to him, “The blockchain is real. You can have cryptodollars in yen and stuff like that. ICOs.. you got to look at everyone individually. The bitcoin was always to me what the governments are going to feel about bitcoin when it gets really big”.

JPM Coin for Real-Time Settlement

According to Umar Farooq, for the time being, JPM coin’s initial concentration would be on international settlements by big corporations, thereby helping these institutions bolster up transactions that take a longer period of time by using options such as Swift.

How “Use-Case” Inspired Bitfxt Project Success

Building a regulated platform in blockchain generally, would not classify as a walk in the park. It is even more demanding to take up such challenge in this part of the world where technology is obviously still far below average. To make matters worse, the competition globally- with the likes of Binance introducing their DEX, Huobi Exchange,Bittrex, Poloniex and a whole lot of VC-funded projects that make the playing ground very much uneven for local exchanges sprouting from the black continent of Africa.

#BUIDL CLUB provides an exclusive with Franklin Odoemena the CEO BITFXT, an IT firm that developed one of Africa’s leading cryptocurrency exchange platform. BITFXT portrays transparency, trust and user satisfaction.

In this interview,

Frank tells us about how “Use Case” helped him build BITFXT revealing secrets for pursuing a successful carrier within the most populated service area in the ecosystem.

In your own words, what would you say blockchain is?

Blockchain is simply an open, public, decentralized ledger for recording any kind of data and and transactions on the internet such that the records are irreversible and unchangeable.

Your Journey into the fast emerging Technology. When, how and through what means did you hear about Blockchain and Cryptocurrency?

I got interested in the technology when I first heard about bitcoin from a senior colleague in the year 2015. My first perception of it is that it is the future of money and that it has the capacity to become a global currency. I got much more interested in it when I performed my first transaction and discovered how fast and cheap it is… though my inability to purchase from coinbase and and the high exchange rate surcharge I got from a couple of other local exchanges available then made decide to provide a simpler and better solution for Africa, that was the birth of bitfxt.

In what areas of blockchain are you most passionate?

Exchange. I am passionate about providing a simpler solution for storing, buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in a seamless manner. I believe that such solution will hasten the adoption of the technology in developing countries. I have a goal of democratizing Africa financially.

What is Bitfxt?

Bitfxt is an IT firm that deals on deployment and development of software, mobile apps and websites including crypto exchanges, wallets, payment gateways, e-commerce, RFID tracking system, etc on the blockchain. We also aim a pioneering the movement of tokenizing businesses, assets and currencies in Africa.

What challenges or problems have you identified?

In as much as the hype is all over the place but in my own observations, not everyone truly understands the technology. 99% are in for the money and this is the reason why it will take a lot of people unaware.

When I got involved in the tech, I couldn’t find single developer in Nigeria, I couldn’t find a single trader both on the internet and offline, it was super frustrating. I had to outsource my project to a foreign country of which if we had developers, the money we spent would have gotten to the hands of a fellow Nigerian, thereby, improving on the economy.

How will your innovation use the blockchain to solve these problems?

Though we started as an exchange where you can list, save, buy and sell cryptocurrencies but we have grown beyond that to solve other problems. Right now, Bitfxt Technology is more of a decentralized IT firm where you can find professional blockchain developers to take on any project you can imagine. So far, we have developed other solutions such as bitfxt cointracker, bitfxt exchange wallet, bxtcoin, bitfxt vault, and much more coming soon

What milestones do you hope to accomplish in the coming years in the Blockchain Industry?

We want to be known as the largest blockchain IT firm in Africa at large. Lots of people have solutions locked up in their mind but because they dont have the funds and a professional to take on it, they die with the solutions and this is the reason why our coin BXTCOIN, is the official currency of the bitfxt ecosystem. Holders can pay at high discounts using our coin. We also hope to help tokenize Africa and stand as the largest exchange for trading African inspired tokens and coins.

How is your Project contributing to creating blockchain awareness and in turn Mass Adoption?

Our solutions are simple to understand and easy to use, and as such, anybody can easily use them. Our exchange is built with the African market in mind, users can easily connect their wallets to their local bank account in order to buy and sell cryptos and we hope to list more of African inspired projects and list them against other African currencies, I believe this will bring about mass user adoption.

Tell us about your project team?

My project team are made up of people from all works of life who has decided to make a difference in the industry. They are professionals to the core and are highly passionate about the project.

How did you come about the team?

I would say it was by the grace of God. I hand fully picked them one after the other not minding their academic background. I resonate more with passion because passion can drive a man to dare god, so I believe that getting the right people with the right attitude, willingness to learn and commensurate passion mattered more and that is what I go for.

How do you inspire them to give their best?

I try to be a true example of what I expect of them and so, they always pick a cue from my actions, resilience and passion towards the project. I also organize staff meeting once in a while where I ensure share knowledge and inspiration with them. In bitfxt tech limited, we are more of a family and it has helped us bond better.

Despite the obvious hurdles associated with building a start-up, exchanges seem to emerge on a consistent basis. Undoubtedly, most of them do not stand for progress in the ecosystem but those which truly are built with integrity are sure to survive the test of time. One would think this area was already saturated but wait till you hear the name of the next crypto exchange platform in town!